Shane Beamer impressed by home crowd energy but challenges students to stay entire game
Shane Beamer notices everything. Even when you don’t think he’s paying attention, he still is.
In the middle of Saturday’s game versus Kentucky, Beamer picked up on how loud Williams-Brice Stadium was. It had been like this all day from Gamecock Walk to now in game.
“The electricity in pregame warmups was awesome. It was right at the top,” Beamer said. “There was a time in the first quarter where I remember thinking to myself, ‘This is the loudest I’ve heard this stadium since I’ve been the head football coach here.'”
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It got to a point where Beamer had trouble hearing on his headphones. Normally as the home team, it’s easier to hear what’s being said, he pointed out. But not Saturday night.
Every play, the crowd was into it. When Kentucky had the ball or made a mistake, the fans got louder and louder. Even the press box was shaking more than normal.
“Im not telling them to be quiet like keeping being louder, we’ll be fine,” Beamer said. “But louder than any venue I’ve been to on the road since I’ve been the head coach. We’ve never had an issue hearing on the headphones, but we did tonight. So we’re going to need our crowd to do that as well.”
In a way, the Gamecock fans in attendance made a difference, serving as a 12th man on the field. With their energy, South Carolina was able to fight back in the fourth quarter and pick up a 17-14 win. The Gamecocks are now 3-0 at home in November.
“The atmosphere was great,” Spencer Rattler said, giving his seal of approval. “The fans gave us a big edge in this game. It was loud the whole game and they were into it, which was awesome.”
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But as mentioned before, Beamer notices everything. And with time winding down in the game, he saw the building wasn’t as full as it was before, specifically in the student section known as “The Cockpit.”
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It’s nothing new for students to head for the exit gates before the game ends. Whether it’s because they had too much fun before kickoff or lost interest, Beamer still noticed. And he had something to say about it.
“If I can nitpick a little bit: Cockpit, we love you. But if you’re going to come, please stay for the whole game,” Beamer implored. “To the Cockpit, I love you guys. That end zone was amazing, but we don’t need empty seats in a four quarter dog fight like that in our student section.”
Beamer went on to challenge the students and the rest of the fan base to show up in big numbers for the final home game of the year against Clemson next Saturday.
“It’s going to probably be a four quarter dog fight next week, as well,” he said. “So we have the greatest student section in the country, Cockpit. I sent out a Tweet yesterday, or X or whatever it’s called now, challenging you, and we need you to be great next week. We’re going to be better as a football team and then we need to be better with keeping this place rocking for four quarters.”
